Washington Mutual CEO awarded $5.97 mln stock

NEW YORK Jan 24 (Reuters) - Washington Mutual Inc. (WM.N), the largest U.S. savings and loan, awarded Chief Executive Kerry Killinger about $5.97 million of restricted stock as part of his compensation for 2006, when a loss in its mortgage unit limited overall profit growth to 4 percent.

In a regulatory filing late Tuesday, the Seattle-based thrift said Killinger received 133,700 restricted shares on Jan. 19. The estimated value is based on Washington Mutual's $44.67 closing price on that date.

The restricted stock award is 12 percent greater than a year earlier, when WaMu, as the thrift calls itself, awarded Killinger $5.34 million as part of his total compensation of $13.7 million for 2005.

WaMu struggled in 2006 as a housing slowdown, tighter margins and rising delinquencies, especially among higher-risk borrowers, weighed on its home loan unit. That unit lost $48 million in 2006 after posting a $1.03 billion profit in 2005. Higher income from retail banking and a quadrupling of profit in a credit card unit helped offset the mortgage weakness.

WaMu shares rose 4.6 percent in 2006, compared with a 13.2 percent gain in the 24-member Philadelphia KBW Bank Index .BKX. The thrift's shares closed Tuesday at $45.07 on the New York Stock Exchange.